2009, 2010 & 2011 Murals

This is an artist’s conception of the old swimming hole once located on Willow Dale Farm and a fanciful look at the swimwear of earlier times. At 5126 Dundas, this 21.5’ x 28’ mural was inspired by Mary Appleby’s note in Villages of Etobicoke, describing the remains of a mill pond which became a favourite swimming hole for generations of young Islington residents. The mill pond was below what was once a functioning sawmill on Mimico Creek, likely near the little parkette at Burnhamthorpe Road and Burnhamthorpe Park Boulevard, on property now owned by Islington Golf Club.

There are no known photos of the sawmill but historical interpreter, Randall Reid, tells us it would have been a wooden structure no more than two stories tall and powered by a water wheel. The swimwear featured in the mural came from actual European swimwear designs from no later than the 1920s. (Canadian swimwear was a little more modest.)

Mural 14 – Pub with No Beer

By John Kuna, 2009

Located on the front of the Fox and Fiddle, Precinct, building at 4946 Dundas, this 6’ x 16’ mural depicts a scene from the prohibition era (ca. 1928) with a pop truck rounding up empty bottles outside of the old Islington Hotel, which was once a local watering hole. At the time Burnhamthorpe Road was situated on the west side of the hotel and the hotel’s drive shed stretched across what is now the current intersection of Dundas St. West and Burnhamthorpe Road and Cordova Avenue.

Mural 15: "Faith of Our Fathers, 2”

by John Kuna, 2009 - located at 4901 Dundas

At right, our second "Faith" mural chronicles the history of Islington United Church in Islington from its early Wesleyan Methodist days to the building of the current church now located at 25 Burnhamthorpe Road.

As early as 1815 ministers, called "Circuit Riders”, traveled on horseback from community to community, attending to the spiritual needs of perhaps 30 parishes.

The "Circuit Rider” shown in the mural has the face of Dr. Stewart East who, along with other ministers, rode on horseback up the steps of the new church as part of the dedication ceremony. This re-enactment created quite a spectacle.

This mural replaces the original "Faith of Our Fathers" which featured the second Methodist church in the village. That structure is now shown in a mural at 4972 Dundas. The original "Faith" mural was a test, painted on plywood panels which eventually chipped and

Mural 16: "The Manse Committee”

by John Kuna, 2010 - located at 4879 Dundas

This painting shows the interior of this Dundas Street West building as it might have appeared around 1888. At that time it was the manse, or minister’s residence, for Islington’s Wesleyan Methodist Church. The scene is a light-hearted portrayal of "The Manse Committee” which advised the minister’s wife on décor and conducted periodic inspections to make sure the residence was kept acceptably clean. Reverend Richard Bowles, who later became the Chancellor of Victoria University, is shown having tea with the Committee Chair while his wife prepares food in the kitchen and Committee members conduct a white-gloved inspection of the premises.

The mural depicts a typical late Victorian residence with furniture that would have been available in Toronto in the 1880s. The floor plan, construction methods and interior were designed according to building practices at the time.

Mural 17: Arts Etobicoke's Art Alley Mural Project:
The Intersection of Human Rights and Community Art
Designed by Susan Rowe Harrison, painted by William Lazos with assistance by Etobicoke youth, 2010

Located at 4889 Dundas, in the walkway next to Arts Etobicoke office

The Art Alley Mural Project is produced by Arts Etobicoke, participating in Amnesty International's Project: Urban Canvas – A mural series celebrating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Art Alley Mural is bringing poetry to Islington Village in a big way – a specially commissioned poem by Dionne Brand, City of Toronto’s Poet Laureate, - has been painted onto the 1000 square foot wall in the alley immediately east of Art’s Etobicoke’s office and gallery.

Mural 18: "Prodigy" by John Kuna, 2011 - located at 5048 Dundas St West

From the 1950s through the 1980s a satellite branch of the Royal Conservatory of Music was located in this Dundas Street building. Alive with rhythm and movement, the mural explores the idea of music tradition, how it is passed on to and elaborated upon by new generations and how it is received by its public. The mural unites past with present by blending design styles from the 1950s with those of today.

At the centre of the piece the RCM’s most celebrated former student Glenn Gould is shown, circa 1947, with his childhood teacher Antonio Alberto Garcia Guerrero. In the bottom left corner is a copy of a handwritten manuscript by W. A. Mozart. Together these elements allude to the passing on of musical tradition and how humble yet prodigious beginnings may be nurtured to great heights, as illustrated by a current audience in the conservatory’s celebrated new concert venue, Koerner Hall. The ultra modern acoustic structure of the auditorium is broken down into design elements which interpret music and sound as waves radiating outward from the original seal of the Conservatory, from a time when it was still the Toronto Conservatory of Music.

Mural 19– "AFTERMATH”
By John Kuna, 2011 - Located at 4868

Hurricane Hazel struck Toronto on October 15, 1954. In her wake most of Islington Golf Course and low-lying areas near Mimico Creek were flooded. This mural, located at 4868 Dundas, depicts the clean-up initiative. It shows a group of volunteers arriving at the scene as a member of the Islington Fire Brigade helps moor their boat. Behind them members of the 48^th Highlanders are clearing away the debris. Above, an army supply helicopter prepares to land on the 9^th fairway which was then high ground and made a suitable landing strip. From there supplies for the whole region were carried to the makeshift depot set up at Islington United Church, visible on the horizon.

Mural 20: "Toboggan Hill"
by John Kuna, 2011 - located at 5112 Dundas St West

This mural continues the theme of children at play introduced in the "Riding the Radials” mural at 5110 Dundas Street West. Both murals are set in the 1920s; this one shows children tobogganing on the hill behind Montgomery’s Inn in fresh snowfall. The image of the group of children shown on the custom built "tandem” sleigh in the foreground is borrowed from a photo in the Islington Archives at Montgomery’s Inn, our community’s living museum.

Mural 21: "Ontario Gothic"
by John Kuna, 2011 - located at 4990 Dundas St West

Located at 4990 Dundas, this mural is based on a photo of the Appleby family taken around 1900 in front of their farmhouse on the northwest corner of Dundas Street West and Islington Avenue. The house was built in an Ontario Gothic style with fine gingerbread trim. The work is intended as a parody of Grant Wood’s iconic 1930s painting entitled "American Gothic”. A little known fact about that work is that the couple shown are not husband and wife. The same is true for the couple in this mural. The man is William Appleby shown with his sister Mabel.

Mural 22: "Gateway/Welcome Mural"
by John Kuna, 2011 - located on the Mimico Creek Bridge at Dundas and Riverbank Drive

Village of Islington BIA